Ducks and Eggs

It's been a while since my last real post. The punklings and I escaped the brown, dismal landscape of West Texas for a few days (actually, a week!) and ventured into Arkansas to visit some sweet friends. We had a great week, playing and learning together. We visited the Fort Smith Historic Site and learned all about the U.S. Marshals, Hanging Judge Parker, and the Civil War. We also visited the Janet Huckabee Nature Center, where we discovered native Arkansas wildlife. We were wishing the weather was warmer so we could take advantage of the free kayaks and canoes, but we'll have to save that for another visit.

Since we returned, life has been fast paced with all the catching up we had to do. We have had a very productive school week, and since everyone has worked so hard, we decided that it was a good idea to take a break at the park one afternoon. The kids chose what they have dubbed "The Duck Park".



Everyone's happy to be outside - even with the wind blowing!

We saw lots of Canadian geese, typical for this time of year, and some others we didn't recognize. For example, the kids got excited about this guy having a beard:



It was a great afternoon outing, albeit short-lived since we got tired of eating the blowing dust pretty quickly.

We've covered Ducks, now on to Eggs. Here's a video of Nathan reading one of his phonics readers, Ed Likes Eggs:



We will meet with our homeschool group tomorrow at another area park for some fun time with friends. It will be a great end to a great week!!

Imagine

I received a link to the following video in my email today. I think it speaks for itself quite well.

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Honey Cookies

For years, I've been on a constant quest for healthier, kid friendly snacks. I was going to try the gluten-free peanut butter cookies today, but I discovered that even they had too much sugar for my liking. Yes, I know, honey is a form of sugar. But it does have some great health benefits - read up on it if you dare!!

Not finding the exact recipe I wanted, I collected various ingredients from assorted recipes I found online and came up with the following:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup raw honey
1 cup natural peanut butter (the regular kind would work fine, too. the natural just has less sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix peanut butter and honey together, then add remaining ingredients to this mixture. Add dry ingredients to peanut butter mixture and mix well. Drop by spoonfuls or shape into walnut-size balls and place on lightly oiled cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F.

These are delicious, if I do say so myself! To support this claim, allow me to submit the evidence of my children standing at the oven in great anticipation of the next batch coming out. They've already consumed the first batch.